Connect with us

WeatherTech Championship

Lewis Holds Off Klingmann for Change Racing’s First GTD Win

Lewis holds off Klingmann for maiden Change GTD victory…

Photo: Scott LePage/IMSA

Corey Lewis held off a hard-charging Jens Klingmann to score Change Racing’s first GT Daytona class victory in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge, giving Lamborghini back-to-back wins at Virginia International Raceway.

Lewis edged out the BMW factory driver by 1.035 seconds in the caution-free race, which went the way of the No. 16 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 from the drop of the green flag.

Class pole-sitter Jeroen Mul pulled out to an early lead, with the Robby Benton-led team opting to double-stint the Dutchman and leave Silver-rated Lewis for the closing stint.

While having rejoined with a ten-second gap over the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Klingmann with 50 minutes to go, Lewis’ lead was gradually reduced, with the two cars battling side-by-side on the final lap.

It marked the first win for both Lewis and Mul in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, as well as the North Carolina-based team, in its home race.

The car led all 91 laps in the race, after topping the time charts in every session this weekend.

The No. 33 Riley Team AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jeroen Bleekemolen and last-minute sub Trent Hindman finished third in class, their first podium since Circuit of The Americas in May.

Hindman, who pulled triple-duty over the weekend and won in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America competition, filled in for Texan Ben Keating, who left on Friday in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Championship leaders Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen were fourth, with the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini relegated to fifth after a late-race puncture for Bryan Sellers.

The No. 50 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Gunnar Jeannette and Cooper MacNeil finished sixth in class, benefiting from a high rate of attrition in the two-hour and 40-minute race.

It included incidents for both of the Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3s and 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 cars, which were among the causalities.

RESULTS: Michelin GT Challenge

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

11 Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in WeatherTech Championship